Monday, 8 December 2008

Monday, 1 December 2008

Five surgeons from big cities are discussing who makes the best patients to operate on.

The first surgeon, from New York, says, "I like to see accountants on my operating table because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered."

The second, from Chicago, responds, "Yeah, but you should try electricians. Everything inside them is color coded."

The third surgeon, from Dallas, says, "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order.

The fourth surgeon, from Los Angeles, chimes in, "You know, I like construction workers.Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over."

But the fifth surgeon, from Washington, DC shut them all up when he observed, "You`re all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There`s no guts, no heart, no brains, no spine, and the head and the ass are interchangeable.

Friday, 21 November 2008

The mind has such an effect on us that all our actions are guided by our mind. We arrange for many worldly possessions to please our mind. But worldly possessions alone do not give us the real peace. The more we possess the more our mind demands. Whole our life passes in pursuit of happiness through possessions but the real happiness continues to evade us.

One who has no control over his mind cannot have peace of mind. We cannot expect happiness unless we have peace of mind. We may turn obstinate and irrational as victims of passions, emotion and tension. On the other hand one can succeed even in adverse circumstances through control of mind.

The worldly possessions alone cannot give us the happiness we are trying to seek. The happiness comes through control of mind. But controlling the mind appears difficult . However, difficult though, it is possible to control the mind to a great extent with strong will, by knowing nature of mind and following certain techniques to control the mind.. We cannot control our mind without renouncing pleasure. It however dose not mean that we renounce joy (bliss). Total control is possible only through pursuit of spiritual life. In order to control our mind we need to understand its basic nature.

Mind is a finer body within the gross body. It is distinct from organ of the body. Behind mind is Atma.The matter is convertible into mind. Mind, even though has no form is part of the body. One affects the other. Mind in its basic form is pure and transparent like pure water, it is a reflection of our inner Spirit, `Atman`. We fail to feel the true nature of our mind because of impurities around it. These impurities are `The three Gunas` i.e.Tamas, Rajas and Sattava. The constitution of individual mind is determined by various combinations and permutation of these Gunas Once these impurities of minds are removed control of mind becomes easier.

Some of the difficulties which come in our way of control of our mind are :-

In order to build up favorable inner climate we need to understand certain inevitable in life like old age, disease, death, separation and loss of worldly possessions.

The impurities of mind can be gradually removed by changing its constitution. First the Sattava must predominate over the other two Gunas. Finally, it is true, Sattava has to be transcended; but first it has to predominate. In order to purify our mind we need to know the causes of impurities of our mind. The list is long, starting from Pralabhd to our present day environment. Since we have no control on our past except for praying forgiveness, we need to pay attention to our food and environment in which we live. (Here food means all intakes through our sense organs), affecting our mind. Food should be light (Alap Ahar-Guru Gobind Singh) and the type which does not lead our mind to Tamas Guna, ie. inertia. The company we keep has great affect on our mind. So has the environment which includes place, time, and cleanliness (swaschhatha).

Having attended to the food we need to pay attention to its restlessness. In Raj Yoga Swami Vivekananda describes the restlessness of mind:

`How hard it is to control the mind! Well it has been compared to the maddened monkey? There was a monkey, restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough some one made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? Human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes sting of scorpion of jealousy of the success of others, and the last of demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard to control such a mind? `. Having purified our mind we make an effort to deal with its restlessness nature The mind is initially in scattered form. The next stage is darkening then gathering followed by concentration and finally one pointed. While Gathering and concentration stages can be achieved through practice (Abhyas) and dispassion (Vairagya), one pointed concentration is not possible without spiritual pursuit ie., meditation.

Last aspect about the mind is its nature to be under the mistaken impression (Bharam) that we are different from all pervading limitless Him (whatever name we give) ie. false identification of one's real Self with the non-self , giving rise to the idea of `me and mine` Effective practice of positive thought can overcome this Bharam. This aspect is basically spiritual and can be pursued through spiritual exercise.

Saturday, 25 October 2008

If you are a sceptical person - still read on as it's actually very interesting!!

This is actually really freaky!!

(Mainly the part at the very end, but read all this first)

1) New York City has 11 letters 2) Afghanistan has 11 letters. 3) Ramsin Yuseb has 11 letters. (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) 4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets interesting:

1) New York is the 11th state. 2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11. 3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11 4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11 5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11 6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911.

9 + 1 + 1 = 11

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:

1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254.

2 + 5 + 4 = 11. 2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year.

The most recognized symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle.

The following verse is taken from the Koran, the Islamic holy book:

"For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace."

That verse is number 9.11 of the Koran. Unconvinced about all of this Still ..?!

Now, try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:

Open Microsoft Word and do the following:

1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers. 2. Highlight the Q33 NY. 3. Change the font size to 48. 4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS 1

Saturday, 4 October 2008

I was relaxing on a holiday today when I came across this article on "the image of Ganesha and its meaning". the article had been written by Kishore Asthana in the newspaper Times of India dated third September. I'm reproducing the article below as I liked it and thought that it would be nice to share.

IMAGE OF GANESHA AND ITS MEANING

The elephant's trunk has the strength to uproot a tree as well as the finesse to pick up a needle. The Ganesha's trunk symbolises the fact that the wise person has both the immense strength and fine discrimination.

Ganesha has large ears. The wise person he has all. He has four hands. In one hand he holds a Lotus, the symbol of Enlightenment. In the other hand he holds a hatchet. That is, the old karma, -- all your sanskars, the accumulated good and bad of past deeds -- get cut when enlightenment comes.

The third hand holds Laddus, the ground sweetmeats. They are the rewards of wise life. Ganesha is never shown eating laddus. The Wise men never partakes of the rewards of his deeds.Hhe is not attached to them. The fourth hand is shown placing the people. The wise man wishes the best for everyone.

Ganesha has only one tusk; the other is shown broken. There is an interesting story is to Ganesha happened to get an elephant's head and one tusk broken. The symbolism of broken tusk is that the wise person is beyond duality.

We tend to think that we end when our bodies end in the material world. We are the first person. All else is different. This duality is created by the mind which creates the ego to help us survive in this world. This 'me-other' duality is the screen keeping us from realising our real self, which is beyond body and mind.

Once we transend this duality, we see the entire universe as a single whole and we become aware of a true selves. The single tusk of Ganesha symbolises this non-duality. Wisdom allows us to see all as one and ourselves as integral part of the whole.

Ganesha is shown in sitting with one foot on the ground and other resting on his knee, above the ground. The wise person is of this earth, yet not entirely of the earth.

Ganesha is shown seated on a rat. The reason for saying that the Ganesha 'rides' on the rat is that rat is among the greatest of all animals. It will keep nibbling at whatever is available, eating everything it can.

Scientifically, too, the rat's teeth keep growing and it has to keep chewing on something to keep these within limits. The rat is a symbol of our senses, which are never satisfied. They crave new experiences, new tastes. Left uncontrolled, they keep growing for ever. The wise person rides on his senses. He keeps them under control.

Ganesha is often shown seated in front of a tray of sweets. In these images the rat is shown sitting in front of the Ganesha, perhaps a bit to one side looking up at him. The senses of the wise persons are under his control and the rat dare not eat the sweets without the permission of the Ganesha.

Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati, the GOD governing the Life-force and the earth mother. This symbolises the spirit and the body of the vice person. Finally, the wise person has the dignity of an elephant.

When we say 'Aum Gansesha Namah' before starting anything what we are saying is that "In what we are about to do, let wisdom be our guide." in a sense, Ganesha is our most powerful GOD, and he is usually remembered before starting any rituals for other deities.

Tuesday, 26 August 2008

It is so long since I came to this blog and updated - one half a month - and the list of the movies that I have seen thorough this period - crazily long - to include "Singh is King" (a repeat telecast also seen on Indian political scene), "Phonk" (Psst just went there for a good popcorn), "Bachna ae Hasino". On the english movies front - the list is longer than this - "Mummy", "Indiana Jones", "Kungfu Panda", "Wanted", "Taken", "An inconvenient Truth"

Not bad considering that most of the times I had to fit this schedule in my Night Flying phase. This time I have broken my own records on that account also. Night flying from 1230 at night to 0330 was the worst and the best at the same time.

Talking about the movies - "Singh Is King" - it was a kind of movie that sent shivers down my spine when I heard its name. Then came the controversy with the Sikh Clergy - and believe me it made me feel - OH shit here goes Khalsas' again. It will show down the entire community. Well after all this I had to see it for myself. I took my children along. I was however pleasantly surprised. The movie turned out to be a very good time pass - infact I will go ahead and say that it was a good one time watch. I being of the same community am proud that this is one community with sense of humour to feel proud at cracking a joke at themselves and laughing along with other on the same joke. I enjoyed it and so did my wify and children. (Infact one of the reason of liking this movie was that -- come closer psst: I am in love with Katrina)

"Bachana ae Hasino" started and I started whacking my brain as to which english movie had the director picked up the story line from. (It is difficult to believe that it was an original) But I soon gave up trying to draw up comparisons and concentrated at the movie. I loved it as an average make good/feel good movie. Can see once. (I just don't know when I really fell in love with Deepika) Any way Deepika and Lamba were good. Bipasa was not looking her age especially with Ranbir. It could have dropped down in my chart had the story line not been this neat. Not Bad. Infact good time pass - this one too.

I went to see Phoonk only because they said that it is drawing crowds. Maybe - I was not impressed. Had to use my Hip Flask (Hic!) to sit through the movie. No don't get me wrong - I am a Horror fan - but it just stretched it too much.

See we have a difference of taste as far as the movies are concerned - with my wify. She likes Hindi movies - so most of the Hindi movies are logged for her sake by me and I love english movies that I enjoy with my children. I started with "Mummy" - I really did not like it much - I thought the previous versions were better. The Chinese angle was not too good perhaps with the movie. However my children thought that it was great - they liked the special effects - so the vote is theirs!

Thereafter I saw "Indiana Jones" - the critics has written so much about it that I could just not miss it. I once again took children with me voluntarily and my wify involuntarily (Caramelised popcorn does the trick). WOW - I relived my childhood for those two odd hours. I loved it and so did my children. And yeah the critics were right about the movie - it had so much that any die hard fan would love to talk about. It was wonderful.

KungFu Panda was another movie that had made so much and it had reviews that made me see it. I downloaded the movie and watched it with home made popcorn and my children. I slept off half way so I will not be able to tell you much about it except that my daughter really liked it. (She is the non Techie member of the movie fan club of my house)

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" is not a movie really - it is more of a documentary. I made it compulsory for all my family members to see it. Being a naturalist myself I wanted them to learn how we are Sc**wing up our planet. At the end of it I was impressed. These Americans certainly have style. In any case Al Gore has won Nobel prize for his work on environment. It was as good a movie that I expected. I could see that the lesson has been driven home to my kids and for two days they made effort of switching off all lights before we left home.

Wanted and Taken too were good one time watch but without kids around. It can be embarrassing with kids with Angelina in any movie. But the movie was good - though not great.

Sunday, 6 July 2008

I wanted to talk about this movie that I saw today - Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.Well I will start like this that I do not like Hindi Movies - I am generally a English movie buff - on the other hand my wify is a Hindi movie fan and it is very rare if at all that together we miss too many movies. As far as going and seeing this movie was concerned - well it did not take any pressure from my better half as I take Amir Khan as one of the producers - directors that spells class and will go for whatever he produces.

The movie is really good - in a sense that we sawa it as a family and spent a part of sunday together and came out smiling out of the cinema hall feeling good. There was a time that no movie was being produced that one could see as a family as there was too much dirt - moral or otherwise to be comfortable with the kids sitting watching the movie.

As far as the movie goes - well there is a girl and there is a boy. Both are extremely different yet are extremely close to each other. Girl is rich, tongue-in-cheek, dominant and aggressive while the boy has had a middle class upbringing and is submissive, soft-spoken and calm. Opposites attract and so do they but not as lovers, as friends! So when do they realize its love?

Worth every penny and time spent along with the family to see this movie - go out and am sure that you will love it -- and ofcourse do not go with your thinking caps on your heads - go with a open mind to enjoy an evening with friends and family and expect only this much.

Three cheers to Amir for giving me a wonderful evening.

A special mention for the music the music is youthful, foot tapping and energetic. Kuddos to AR Rahman yet again.

Wednesday, 2 July 2008

Everywhere I see - I see depression, tension and people spiralling down in the lives, not living -- just marking their days -- passing time, wishing that the day goes by - waiting eagerly for the next day and when that arrives not knowing what to do with it. What has gone wrong? I see that the divorce has become everyday affair. Was materially being more comfortable meant to give us more problems? Or was it to solve our everyday problems? The satisfaction is just not there -- in our work, in play, in family, in children, in friends..... where do we head from here? Have we become our own slaves, slaves to a desires, slaves to time, slaves to our work? How do we break the rigmarole of daily routine and live our lives?

Sorry -- that's a sentence with too many question marks. But I do know about to put it across any other way. I was slipping through my album and saw the photographs of my daughter -- just born in my hands -- today I have discussions with her as we are good friends. I realised that time has flown by. I do not regret any moment of my life because I have tried to live it to the maximum - living within the self constraints of morals. And this is what I teach my children also -- I tell them whenever the times are bad to not wish them away -- because the time that goes by never comes back. I tried to explain to them live life whether it is good and bad or ugly to the fullest. Enjoy every moment that you live. In all this I have tried to throw in the salt of their responsibilities to the nature, society and each other. I am sure and pray that they will be good citizens of tomorrow.

I wanted to ask - what does ' living life' mean? Does it have a separate meaning for me and for others? are now trying to press an early retirement from this uniform -- make some neat money and spend the time I like doing the most. Nature, photography, reading, music, movies and of course donating to the poor FIIs.

Monday, 16 June 2008

Those were the days I would fondly remember throughout my life. Sitting in the nights staring in the freezing skys and wishing sometimes that we remain in those beautiful surroundings through out our lives and at other times wishing that we run back homes from being isolated and sitting there. Now it all seems like our college days. What days were those. We had powerful telescopes to see the activity at the enemy posts and I thought -- why can't I click some photographs of moon through it? It took me so long to finally get the photographs -- first there were problems to align the camera lens and the telescope. Then was the problem to keep the camera steady with so much of zoom. The light was so less that I could not increase the exposure speed beyond a certain setting. After so many trials and misses -- finally got some good shots. Three by night and two by day to be precise. Hope you like the shots.

Sunday, 15 June 2008

Infact my love for wildlife is so much that when I was a kid I never wanted to join army as a profession as first choice. I wanted to be a naturalist. I wanted to be part of conservation and be near to nature. I was once advised by my father that if you do not settle first and do not earn a living -- it will be very difficult to establish in this field -- till you have an identity of your own. You have to earn, be independent and then take up a social cause once you have established your self in any sphere.

I took heed to his advise and never ever debated this point. To bring it out today is again not with a sense to debate it. I/he may have been wrong or right. the point is that my life took a turn and I went to NDA. After four years of whatever I became an officer.

My mother side of the family were very found of hunting. I used to join them off and on. It was there I learnt how to track animals, recognise birds. They were not the kind of hunters that you find in everyday life now-a-day (like some people walk with a gun in hand and shoot the first thing you come across) -- they were a kind of royals who hunted and were very strict about how and what they hunted. I remember they went on a deer hunt and the first deer they came across I pointed out. I was promptly told that it was a female and that was not to be touched in this season. After some while a big group of wild boars came in our view and when I once again pointed out -- once again I was told politely that -- they were out only for deer. It did confuse me a lot at that age and time -- especially so when we came home without a bag.

Today I look around and realise -- we are not going to loose our wildlife to hunting with such principles -- but to the senless so called hunting where in just the lust to kill womething is so great that we don't give a damn to age, sex, season and whole lot of other things associated.

Anyhow what I have talked about was a very long time back and I was very young. Then I hunted myself - a lot of birds, rabbits, deer, wild boar and so on. Then I started flying -- I have now flown in helicopters over the entire country. You cannot imagine what India I have seen from above. Miles and miles and miles of endless towns, villages with nothing that you can call forests. I have seen logging in so called hearts of national sancturies. I seen people I could not influence gun down the first thing they see on four legs and then throw that carcass -- lest they are caught. It was all senseless.

Then I decided that I will start shooting of a different kind. Unfortunately on my salary I could only dream of the kind of eqpt I dream't about. A Digital canon or nikon SLR with good telephoto lens -- however the fire burns and whenever I can -- I do not permit killing of wild animals any more. I look at a wild snake - a bird - and animal with the same kind of pity -- If someone or all of us do not do something fast we will not have wildlife to show to our next generation.

There was a time just 10 years back that I flew over areas of bathinda and saw herds of deer and bluebull. Today I do not see such concentration in the deepest of rajasthan -- and mind you no one is bothered. We sleep and eat and be merry -- we are too busy to live our lives that we no longer seem to care about anyone or anything for that matter.

I have another outlook that is not shared by many (Meneka Gandhi to start with). Another major cause of this is stray dogs and cats. The amount of wildlife that they have destroyed is phenomenal. They life on the periphery of human population. They grow with the human population and they push out the wild life even further than humans as they roam miles and miles. Maul and kill deer, fox, patridges, and what not. I feel that if we eliminate stray dogs and cats then the wildlife will be closer to us even in cities and towns. If we go a step further and teach our population not to chase - kill wild life just for the heck of it we have a chance to save them for our next generation to live with peacefully.

Please do leave your experiences and share your views with me. Today I post photographs of mountain goat that I clicked in my last posting in the Himalayas.

Tuesday, 10 June 2008

Thanks for such encouraging words. I am now going to bore you to death with my collection of photographs of flowers. Just by the way -- the photograph of the first flower in the last post is barely a few milimeters across. The flowers bloomed on moss on the stones.

Monday, 9 June 2008

Okay today I would like to talk about something that I noticed -- once again when I was on my post in the Northern tip of our country. It was summer time and the entire place was lush green with so many colours floating in the sea of green. One of those days when I had nothing particular to do when I was sitting on the grass after a gruelling patrol that had lasted the entire night -- I noticed a very small fluorescent flower. I noticed that the flower had been tramped upon so many times but it refused to smile. Infact the flower was so small that I really would not have noticed it had I not been sitting down and looking closely.

I wondered -- there in front of me were thousands of colours that were floating in front of my eyes and I never had time in my routine to sit down and admire these small wonders. I was also sure that once my tour of duty that would last for 2years in that place -- I would never on my own climb a mountain for 11 hours to admire flowers. I then stared to photograph the flowers of the valley. In all I counted 100+ varieties and a total of 190+ colours (probably varients of the same types) I tried to photograph and keep a tally/record but unfortunately as was destined probably, one of my memory card (I am talking of a time when I had to save for two months to buy 128mb mem card) gave up. I hunted for some software to retrieve the photographs - but was unfortunate. I am now posting a few of those photographs. Hope you like them.

Thursday, 29 May 2008

I make this post to honour your comment Uma. Yes I have led a life that has been adventurous, simulating and wonderful - all at the same time. And No Uma you are wrong on reading me in a way -- I do not have a craving for recognition -- I really would love to recount some achievements in my life but it is not for trying to make me immortal of any sort. I am what I am -- it is just that you feel some times that the world gives two hoots to how you have contributed towards the society and you are shunned everyday because they either feel you were crazy in the first place to opt for such a profession (read army) or it is just too bad for me as they sleep well everyday without any worry at all.

It is these times I think that whether I have led a good, bad or ugly life people must know that Indian Army has done a wonderful job. That job has not been easy -- either physically or morally. It has taken a toll on me and all those who are in such environment.

So I have this blog where I would subtly put across my life so that they understand a "fauji" a little better. I am a misfit in this society I know (and you too know it by now)--- I do not know how to go ahead with my life normally.

I am now posted in a peace station and I thought that before I get another tour of duty where there is nothing but wilderness let me just flow. Why in stocks? I thought that after the life I have led I want to earn but earn where there is no dirty money. So... that is why I am in stocks. It was my passion and now it has eaten so much from me that I deserve it to give me some back (with interest ofcourse). I want to do well and I do not want it all -- if we share our experiences and if we learn from each other I am sure that we can do better than those getting 10 digit salaries doing the same job.

Jaggu: this one is for you -- you are right that it is all white -- I will only recount one instance -- we woke up one morning and wanted to go for our routine we found that our toilets have all been buried in 40 ft plus of snow. Belive you me that we just did not want to go out in the open to be fodder for enemy sniper in the daylight so we just passed the day somehow. the next night we dug and dug and dug and reached the bottom only when it was about to be bright outside. I could not click any snaps as that was notorious place for en sniping so there was to be no movement by day -- so I clicked this snap when the ceasefire was there -- the snow -- mind you is no longer 40 feet but you will get an idea what i am saying.

The photograph that is also as header on this blog is one of my favourite clicked there and I am posting the original (compressed as the blog does not alow more than 8mb attachments) Hope you like this one and it is coloured too!!

Tuesday, 27 May 2008

Okay just had some panaromic views of the place where i spent so much time and have such fond memories...Then we talk about something else....Just one request to fellow bloggers -- do leave a word or so of advise, or comment -- it just encourages me.In the second photograph that you see you see the frontage of the company I commanded. The adversary was across the ridge you see on the horizon and to the right of the photograph. due to some distortion while stitching the photographs it seems that the slopes are gentle but believe you me... they were anything but gentle. to traverse this it used to take an average of 12hours trip going and coming back and the men being pulled up with ropes that you saw in the previous photograph .. they were along short of the highest point along this only. Infact if you look carefully the entire route traversed during the night can be seen on the snow. all along the ropes were tied lest a person gets disoriented or slips down. From the topmost point that you see we lost some equipment that fell down and it was recovered 2Km down in a ravine... well actually it could never be recovered.The third photograph is the view across and a post on the top. See the fall -- crazy when you will be told that adversary actually tried a climb and assault.

Sunday, 25 May 2008

I talked about my post along the POK. Well it was at 12,500ft + above the sea level. Secluded and nearest help just four hours of walk (ofcourse the walk was downhill) Climbing to the post generally took 8 - 12 hours depending upon the weather. All the movement was at night lest we are fired upon by our friends across the border. All this mind you was before the ceasefire was in place with the present President of Pak.Some photographs of the post.

Saturday, 24 May 2008

I am found of photography and that is about it. Always strived to have very good equipment but have make done with prosumer digicams in the recent times. What I intend is to post some photographs that have a story to tell in my life and would like to start wit the best one that I have. Well I was posted to a GOD forsaken post in remote part our country on our northern border with POK. There the days during the winters were bad to say the least. Days and days of snow with lots of patrolling, avalanches and tough times. Then came the first signs of spring and I said WOW look at all the greenery. Suddenly we had another bad weather day and again those bouts of depression started. Then one day I was on a patrol when I saw these beautiful flowers forcing the snow around them to melt and blooming. They taught me to never give up and till now have a special part in my life. And here I bring you those wonderful motivating flowers.

About Me

Retired from Army after 22 years of service. Now pursuing my loves - photography, wildlife (birding in particular) and traveling...I have jumped from Canon to Nikon. (Earlier I had Canon 7D mark ii along with 100-400mm mark ii lens)